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INDEX
WEATHER: Tuesday, mostly sunny .. 9 I
and cool, high 55-60 with N winds, 5-15 Editorial.4
mph. Tuesday night, fair and cool, low Arts & Entertainment _7
around 30. Wednesday, mostly sunny, Sports.9
high 55-60. Classifieds.11
October 25,1988 _University of Nebraska-Lincoln Vol. 88 No. 41
Future concerts not in jeopardy, officials say
dj uavfu nuiiuway
and Victoria Ayotte
Senior Reporters
University of Nebraska-Lin
coln officials said Monday
problems resulting from the
Def Leppard concert last Wednesday
in the Bob Devaney Sports Center
will not affect Van Halen’s Nov. 5
performance.
Jerry Lott, superintendent of the
rts center, said as far as he knows,
Van Halen concert will run as
scheduled.
Lou said problems concerning the
Def Leppard concert arose when the
stage nggers tor the band tried to put
too much equipment above the stage.
John Fremstad, University Pro
gram Council major concerts coordi
nator, said he has not heard anything
from Van Halcn or their manager
Charles Hernandez, who is also Def
Leppard’s manager.
“We’re fine with them,” Fremstad
said, “What we’re doing right now is
going ahead with other shows and the
next one is Van Halen.”
Fremstad said “right now” he
doesn’t think there will be any prob
lem luring other concerts to Lincoln.
Fremstad said that “things were
different than we expected the day of
the (Def Leppard) show.
“It was just a mistake on both
ends,” Fremstad said.
Lott said Def Leppard’s equip
ment crew was aware of the regula
tions a month ago, so they weren’t
surprised when they were told they
had to drop weight.
“1 had to have them lighten the
load above the stage,” Lott said. “It
was a hold-up because thecrewdidn’t
want to lessen the equipment, so they
just rearranged it.”
The rearranging put crews four
hours behind schedule and fans were
not let in the concert until 8 p.m.,
when the concert was scheduled for
7:30 p.m.
Lott said there was 63,100 pounds
of equipment hanging from the ceil
ing. He said the most weight the cen
ter has ever had hanging from the roof
was 45,000 pounds.
Lott said the house rules for the
amount of weight hanging from the
ceiling are 10 pounds per square foot,
and that the equipment is connected
to the loading panel points.
Lott said Van Halen’s overhead
stage equipment is around 60,000
pounds according to preliminary re
ports. Lott said he is negotiating with
the Van Halen stage crew about the
equipment.
Def Leppard also was upset about
the number of dressing rooms they
received, Fremstad said.
“That situation has been dealt
with” for the Van Halen concert,
Fremstad said. More dressing rooms
have been found to accommodate the
next band, he said.
Don Bryant, director of sports in
formation, said there was more than
$1,000 worth of damage done to the
sports center by fans and the stage
crew. Vulgar graffiti and broken glass
was found in the dressing rooms,
Bryant said.
Ceiling panels also were ripped by
the stage crew, Lott said.
Bias tells UNL ‘message of truth’
By Adam T.Branting
Staff Reporter
Lonise Bias, mother of basket
ball star Len Bias, took the
stage of the Centennial Ball
room in the Nebraska Union Monday
night and gave her “message of truth*’
to a full house of University of Ne
braska-LincoIn students.
“Len Bias has done more in death
for this nation than he could ever have
done in his life,” Bias said.
Len Bias died of a cocaine over
dose June 19,1986—three days after
being drafted by the Boston Celtics.
Bias’ speech kicked off a week of
activities for UNL’s “Do It Sober VI.”
Bias said in her speech that she was
not there to offend anyone, but that she
“is about nothing but truth.”
She said she was not going to eulo
gize her son. Bias said people talk
more of stopping the symptoms of
drug abuse than the cause of the prob
lem.
The “root” of the problem is peer
pressure, Bias said.
“When you have an interest that
you enjoy, and they’re insignificant
to your friends, they will put you
down,” Bias said.
She said she feels part of the prob
lem lies with today’s youth being too
materialistic, and that the more
people have, the more they want.
“The greatest love of all has noth
ing to do with the name on your back,
it has to do with the name that you
have,” Bias said.
She spoke of people’s self worth
as an important part in resisting peer
pressure.
“Anyone can go along with the
crowd, but who will dare to be differ
ent? It takes character and courage,”
Bias said. “You must stand up for
what is right, you must take control."
Bias also talked about the impor
tance of family, and how family
members are a person’s best friends
and not to dismiss them.
“It’s too late to let them know (you
love them) at their casket, they won’t
respond,” Bias said.
Though she said little about drugs
and alcohol abuse directly, Bias
touched base with AIDS and the prob
lems surrounding it.
“Happiness is not wobbling on a
pillow with someone,” Bias said.
She said that AIDS will be the
number one killer within three years,
and that the young will “be literally
dying in the streets.”
At the end of her speech, Bias said
that the youth of today should heed
warning and not wait until they are
“drowning at the bottom of the pool.”
i
Marked stalls
watched closely
By Lori Beckmann
Staff Reporter__
Students who solve the prob
lem of finding a parking
space by taking a marked
handicapped stall should think twice,
according to a disabled University of
Nebraska-Lincoln freshman.
The inconvenience caused for
handicapped students and for others is
irritating and unnecessary, Rick Pa
tocka said.
Patocka, who studies family and
development for rehabilitation serv
ices, said UNL’s lack of parking is
much more of a problem for handi
capped students than others.
“The problem is all over,” Patocka
said. “If you have a class at eight,
you’re fine, but if you have one at
eleven, you’re out of luck.”
New students have to park on the
street, said Patocka, who has a re
served stall.
College kids take the spots, Fa
tocka said. “They’re assigned for
wheelchairs, but they park there any
way.”
Cars that are improperly parked in
marked handicapped stalls are tick
eted and automatically lowed, said
Ron Fuller, superior parking officer
of the University Police Department.
“Thai’s a $ 15 ticket and a tow fee,’’
he said.
“It doesn’t happen often,” said
Fuller. “We get maybe four or five a
month.”
Most students who park in handi
capped stalls arc aware that they arc
marked, Fuller said, but they were
only going to park there for a minute.
Others don’t see the marking, he said.
“They tell me that if they had seen
the marking they wouldn’t have
parked there,” Fuller said. “And I
believe them.”
According to Julie Zaniboni, an
elementary special education major
See HANDICAPPED on 6
John Bruca/Dally Nebraskan
Gays sometimes vi ctimized by crime
By Chris Carroll
Staff Reporter
A man who says he was at
tacked with a lire iron thinks
the attack was provoked by
his sexual orientation.
A recent graduate from the Uni
versity of Ncbraska-Lincoln said he
was assaulted Oct. 9 at 12:45 a.m. in
an alley near 15th and G streets.
Rodney Bell II said he was bleed
ing profusely after being hit in the
face with what he thinks was a tire
iron. The gash to the right side of
Bell’s nose required eight to 10
stitches at Lincoln General Hospital,
he said.
Bell said he thinks he was as
saulted because his attackers thought
he was gay.
Although the Lincoln Police re
turned to the area soon after the at
tack, the three young males were gone
and no arrests were made, Bell said.
Bell, who said he is a homosexual,
is a former president of the Gay/Lcs
bian Student Association.
Bell said he knows of several at
tacks against gays which frequently
occur near the State Capitol. Homo
sex ual men frequent the loop area on
15th, from H to F streets, after the
local bars close, Bell said.
JoAnna Koba-Svoboda, adminis
trator of the victim-witness unit for
the Lincoln Police Department, said
many assault cases have been re
ported in the same area Bell was
assaulted.
However, according to Assistant
Chief Clifton Koch, the Lincoln Po
lice Department doesn’t specify
whether or not an assault was moti
vated by anti-gay sentiments, even if
the victim believes this is the case.
Butabill, passed in the U.S. House
of Representatives in May, would
have required the national collection
of data for crimes motivated on the
basis of race, religion, sexual orienta
tion and ethnicity.
A similar bill didn’t pass in the
Senate, said Kevin Berrill, director of
National Gay and Lesbian Task
Force’s Anti-Violence, in a phone
interview.
Last week, as the senate drew to a
close, legislation that would require
time consuming debates and com pro
mise was tabled, Bcrrill said.
The Hate-Crime Statistics bill
faced opposition from Sen. Jesse
Helms R-NC, Bcrrill said.
Kay Kallam, a research assistant
for Sen. Jesse Helms R-N.C., said in a
phone interview, that the senator
objected to the inclusion of gays and
lesbians in the bill and classifying
intimidation and fondling as crimes
motivated by prejudice, something
the senator feels would be dilfifuclt to
access.
Helms believed that if the bill were
passed, it would be a step toward
establishing gays and lesbians as a
legitimate minority, Kallam said
He is against gays and lesbians
having official minority status, Kal
See VIOLENCE on 6
